Improvement in processes for hardening and preserving wood



PATEN'I OFFICE.

v CHARLES G. VVATERBURY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN PROCESSES FOR HARDENING AND PRESERVING WOOD.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 124,402, dated March 5, 1872.

Srnomrcarron.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES G. WATER- BURY, of the city of New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Method of Harden-. ing and Preserving Wood; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

My invention consists in filling the pores of wood with a composition of common salt, or other crystallizable preservative salt, such as sulphate of zinc, iron, &c., and creosote oil, dead oil, or other similar hydrocarbon oil, as hereinafter set forth.

I first place the wood in a large, tight, iron cylinder or tank, then apply heat in the form of steam, which I prefer to be superheated, or by any mode of heating lumber, for a sufficient length of time to vaporize the sap and soluble substances containing the albumen. When the water is thus expelled and the pores of the wood opened, and the wood heated through, I then treat the wood to a bath of strong salt brine, or other preservative salt in solution, which, in a Very short time, will fill all the pores of the wood. I then draw off the brine that has not been taken up by the wood, and again heat as before, thus evaporating the water, leaving the salt in the wood. When the water is thus expelled, the pores of the wood will contain a large amount of crystallized salt, with very little moisture. Ithen, without removing the wood from the tank, immediately fill the tank with creosote oil, or dead oil, or any equivalent hydrocarbon oil. The wood readily taking up the oil, it becomes evenly distributed throughout the fibers of the Wood, confining the salt in the pores, and renderin g the wood impervious to water. The salt hardens the wood and renders it tough, while the creosote oil prevents the salt from being dissolved by water, and all the substances thus introduced into the pores of the wood viz., salt, hydrocarbon, and creosote-are powerful antiseptics, and tend to preserve the Wood from rot or decay, as well as from the ravages of insects. In the second process of filling the pores of the wood with the oil, less heat is required than in the first process of filling them with brine.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-- The above described process of treating wood to harden, toughen, and preserve it.

0. G. W'ATERBURY. Witnesses:

(3-. L. OooMBs, T. M. Oo0MBs. 

